{"id":804,"date":"2020-02-14T15:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T20:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/2019-in-review-part-3\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T11:39:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T16:39:49","slug":"2019-in-review-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/2019-in-review-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Green City, Clean Waters Sites That Took Root in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia\u2019s nationally-recognized Green City, Clean Waters<\/em> program will celebrate the ninth anniversary<\/strong> of its launch this June.<\/p>\n

As we head toward that milestone and continue to work with you to build new, community-based<\/strong> green infrastructure sites that soak up stormwater and protect our waterways, we wanted to look back on some highlights from year eight of this 25-year plan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From Point Breeze to Port Richmond, dozens of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects sprouted up around the city during 2019 thanks to Green City, Clean Waters,<\/em><\/a> helping us to reduce the biggest local source of pollution in our waterways\u2014excess stormwater runoff that creates sewer overflows.<\/p>\n

As of December 2019, Philadelphia’s green infrastructure investments added up to about 40.7 million gallons of runoff soaked up for every 1-inch rainstorm. With hundreds of additional projects in the works, we are also on pace to meet our ten-year goals in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur eighth year of Green City, Clean Waters<\/em> was a year of collaboration, resulting in new green stormwater infrastructure sites that positively impact communities in new and meaningful ways,\u201d says Marc Cammarata, Deputy Commissioner of Planning & Environmental Services<\/strong>.<\/cite> \u201cReflecting on the progress made last year alone, I\u2019m inspired by our communities and their efforts to help the City fully realize the vision of a greener city with cleaner waterways. Thanks to all who contributed to get us closer to our Green City, Clean Waters<\/em> 10-year milestone\u2014we\u2019re looking forward to more collaboration for an even healthier city in 2020.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Philadelphia in 2020 can boast thousands of green tools like rain gardens, stormwater tree trenches, and underground systems built beneath now-refurbished athletic fields, parks, and sidewalks. That\u2019s just on public and commercial property\u2014thousands of additional systems, like rain barrels and rain gardens, created by customers using Rain Check incentives help to reduce the impact of residential runoff.<\/p>\n

This impressive and constantly growing green infrastructure network is capable of soaking up tens of millions of gallons of stormwater every time we get an inch of rain, keeping billions of gallons of polluted runoff and sewer overflow out of our waterways each year.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at some of the progress we\u2019ve made with the help of residents, the Mayor’s Office, City Council, and\u00a0our oTIS family<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Parks and Recreation, the Streets Department, and the Office of Sustainability.<\/h6>\n
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North Philadelphia<\/h2>\n

Berks Street and Sedgley Avenue<\/h3>\n

Completed in June 2019, the green improvements around this intersection represent one installment in a series of PWD investments planned throughout Strawberry Mansion.<\/p>\n

\"Berks<\/a>